Iloilo vendors oppose city market plan

ILOILO CITY, Philippines—Stall owners and vendors are opposing a public-private operation of the city’s central market, fearing that rentals and prices of commodities will go up.

Instead,  Association of Stall Owners and Transient Vendors of Iloilo City Public Market Inc. (Astraven-ICPMI) and Panay Consumers Alliance  are pushing for the improvement of the market using public funds and with full government control.

“About a thousand stall lessees and transient market vendors are threatened of dislocation or higher rates if the project is implemented,” Astraven’s president, Rex Donasco, told the Inquirer in a phone interview on Monday.

The project is part of a comprehensive plan to develop the central business district as an economic and cultural attraction and involves adding an extra floor to a two-story building and other structures, according to Norlito Bautista, city administrator.

The facade of the building will be preserved while the other areas will be improved and expanded, Bautista said.

Currently, the market has 1,025 stall spaces for lease, excluding those for transient vendors.

Bautista said the city government was conducting prebidding procedures with SM Prime Holdings Inc., the lone investor which has expressed interest in the joint venture. Nestor P. Burgos Jr., Inquirer Visayas